HTC gets big with the One Max, coming to Sprint and Verizon

Is this the one-two punch HTC needs?

There's something almost inevitable about the growing size of smartphones. With today's launch of the One Max, HTC joins the now-crowded field of 6-inch phones. The One Max has a 5.9-inch 1080p display and sports a fingerprint sensor on its expansive back side, but it is otherwise rather similar the One. Inside, you'll find the same Snapdragon 600 1.7GHz quad-core SoC, the same 4MP UltraPixel rear-shooter, and the same HTC BlinkFeed software experience—though now on Android 4.3. The bulk does make room for a removable back cover and microSD slot, though the 3300 mAh battery remains fixed.

At launch, the HTC One had top spec parts and an industrial design that was innovative and attractive. Seven months later, the cutting-edge SoC is now the Snapdragon 800, and industrial design is taking its first steps toward a curvier future. That the One Max is so much like its predecessor might not have been concerning five months ago, but the mobile market doesn't stand still. For troubled HTC, poor execution now could be awfully hard to recover from.